FOREDAY RIDERS
FOREDAY RIDERS . Además de ser una de las primeras bandas tradicionales de blues formados en el AUSTRALIA ( Sidney ) junto Adderley Smith Blues Band y Bay City Unión) es ya una institución fundamental en el desarrollo del blues de Aussie, FOREDAY RIDERS tienen la distinción de ser uno de los más antiguos bandas de blues en el país. Celebraron 45 años como banda en 2012 y a pesar de sufgrir numerosos cambios en la misma , a día de hoy siguen en la brecha , hace poco han participado en el BLUES & ROOTS FESTIVAL ' 2015 junto con otras figuras como CANNED HEAT y numerosos grupos locales.
Los hermanos Ron King (voz, armónica) y Jeff King (guitarra, dobro) han dirigido la banda desde la primera formación , alrededor de 1967. Como entusiastas del Blues de gusto impecable, los hermanos habían estado escuchando conjuntos británicos de R & B como The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds y Manfred Mann. Sin embargo, ellos se inspiraronprincipalmente en el BLUES de Chicago , eléctrico y en gente como los originales, Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Rogers y Howlin 'Wolf, además de los más clásicos Blues como de Memphis Minnie and Lightning Hopkins.
Con B.B.KING en 1975
Often cited as Sydney’s “University of the Blues", the Foreday Riders celebrated 45 years as a band in 2012, and despite countless line-up changes, 2 original members from 1967 remain: Ron and Jeff King, playing harmonica and guitar respectively. Other durable current members are the rhythm section of drummer Rosscoe Clark and bassist “Sleepy” Stan Mobbs, while the band is fronted on guitar and vocals by Riders veteran Tony "Pedro" Pedroza.
The Riders emerged in the wake of the British “blues boom” of the early 60’s, initially inspired by outfits such as the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and Manfred Mann.These bands were always ready to acknowledge their musical sources and so introduced the Riders to what became their primary influence - the “golden age” of Chicago blues in the 1950’s: the bands of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Rogers etc.
What began in the mid-60’s as a loose association of school friends dabbling in electric blues developed over a year or so into a 7-piece band featuring young singer Jill Drury and Swiss piano man Rolli Utzinger.Material ranged from the country blues of Memphis Minnie & Lightning Hopkins through to urban R & B by Willie Dixon and Ray Charles, incorporating jazz-flavoured instrumentals and jump tunes. Since then, after a brief stint as a quartet in the early 70’s, the band has settled for a 5-piece line up such as the current one, often augmented at Riders gigs by guests dropping in on guitar, sax, harp, keyboards - whatever you can use for the blues.
Only venturing sporadically into the recording studios, the Riders have released 8 titles, the most recent being “Shake A Leg” (2005) on Full House Records, featuring Ray Beadle, Wayne Jury and jazz legend Col Nolan, and “Blues Reform School (2009) taken from a live recording of the Riders’ 30th anniversary show at the Basement in 1997.
Highlights in the band’s history include: support acts with B.B.King; Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee; Freddie King and Hound Dog Taylor, Gatemouth Brown, the “Delta Blues Legends” show, Chris Cain and others. The Riders have backed Bo Diddley in Sydney, and were joined on stage by Junior Wells during his 1972 tour. In 1975 the Riders were part of the “History of the Blues” concert tour which included Dutch Tilders, Judy Bailey and Margaret Roadknight. Other names associated with the band are Jeannie Lewis and Broderick Smith, and former Riders have moved into major local blues acts such as the Bondi Cigars and The Hippos. Apart from appearing at Sunbury in 1975, the Riders played at the now legendary Alice Springs Blues Festival in 1986, along with Chain, Renee Geyer, Kevin Borich, Ian Moss and others. More recent festival appearances include the East Coast Blues Festival at Byron Bay, the Lithgow, Goulburn and Thredbo Blues Festivals, and the Wangaratta, Manly and Hawksbury Jazz Festivals.
In 1996 the Riders were awarded the inaugural Hall of Fame Award at the Lithgow Blues Festival and in following years received the Chain Heritage award at Goulburn (and were later inducted into the Hall of Fame), the 2MBS-FM Stormy Monday Lifetime Achievement award, and the Sydney Blues Society “Services to the Blues” Award. The Riders were also included in a series of blues concerts at the Sydney Opera House in 1999, “Sundays ‘round the House”, with Mal Eastick, The Mighty Reapers and Matt Walker.
Throughout the band’s history, the King Brothers have been privileged to work with an imposing array of leading Australian blues performers, and hope to continue doing so, always aiming to see audiences have as much fun as the band.
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